''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'' is a 2004
stealth game co-developed by
Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and
Silicon Knights and published by
Konami
, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...
for the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
. Released in March, the game is a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of ''
Metal Gear Solid'', originally developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
in 1998.
''The Twin Snakes'' features graphical improvements over the original, new
cutscenes written and directed by
Ryuhei Kitamura, and
gameplay functions originally introduced in the
sequel ''
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty''. The game includes a revised translation with re-recorded
voice acting
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
, using almost all of the original
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
voice cast.
The game was met with positive reception.
Gameplay
The gameplay of ''The Twin Snakes'' was altered to resemble that of ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty''. While all of the original areas and enemies were kept, new ways for the player to combat them were introduced, such as the ability to shoot from a first-person view.
Enemy
AI was improved, giving enemy soldiers the ability to communicate with each other and detect the player more intelligently with senses of sight and sound enhanced.
Development
''The Twin Snakes'' was first announced in 2003 by
Nintendo of America
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. ...
, confirming that Silicon Knights would be developing under the guidance of ''
Metal Gear
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...
'' creator
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer. He is regarded as an auteur of video games. He developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired ...
and ''
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
'' creator
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he is ...
.
Although ''The Twin Snakes'' was largely developed at
Silicon Knights,
Ryuhei Kitamura directed many of the game's cinematics while Silicon Knights implemented them into the game to look identical to those in the original ''Metal Gear Solid'', but upon inspection
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer. He is regarded as an auteur of video games. He developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired ...
asked Kitamura to redo them in his well-known action style. The reworked cinematics did receive some criticism due to Kitamura's excessive use of the
bullet time
Bullet time (also known as frozen moment, dead time, flow motion or time slice) is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera (or viewer) from those of its visible subject. It is a depth enhanced simulation of ...
effect, which was largely inspired by the then popular hit movie ''
The Matrix''. The game's composition duties were split: some of the in-game music was handled by
Steve Henifin
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
and Silicon Knights' music staff, while the rest of the music (in-game, menus and cut scenes) was handled by Konami's music staff, including ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' co-composer
Norihiko Hibino.
Plot
Voice acting
The voice acting was re-recorded with the original cast from ''Metal Gear Solid'', except for the role of the Cyborg Ninja.
David Hayter, the English voice of Solid Snake, persuaded
Konami Computer Entertainment Japan to have the original voice cast reprise their roles.
The main reason for the re-recording, according to an interview with Hayter, was because the increased audio quality allowed by the GameCube picked up outside noise from the original recordings that were inaudible in the PlayStation version. In the original game, Gray Fox and Donald Anderson were both voiced by
Greg Eagles
Greg Eagles (born October 28, 1970) is an American actor. He voiced the Grim Reaper in Cartoon Network's ''Grim & Evil'' and its spin-off ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''. He also voiced Captain Bob and Sketch Pad on HBO's Canadian-Ameri ...
. However, in ''The Twin Snakes'', Greg Eagles voices only Anderson, whereas Gray Fox was voiced by
Rob Paulsen
Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and three Anni ...
. The revised voice acting is used in ''
Metal Gear Solid 4'' during Snake's reminiscence as the English-language voice-recording used in the original game was not recorded in a sound-proof studio.
Mei Ling, Nastasha Romanenko, and Naomi Hunter speak with American accents in ''The Twin Snakes'', whereas in the original ''Metal Gear Solid'', they spoke with Chinese, Ukrainian, and British accents, respectively.
Release
''The Twin Snakes'' was released on March 9, 2004 in North America. It was originally to be released in November 2003, but was pushed back, along with the other versions. The European date was pushed back several weeks.
In Japan ''The Twin Snakes'' was released on March 11 alongside an exclusive Premium Package. The box includes the game itself; a platinum-colored GameCube adorned with the FOXHOUND logo; a 44-page book titled ''Memorandum'' containing production notes, sketches and photos; and a GameCube disc called the "Special Disc" containing an emulated version of the
Family Computer version of the original ''
Metal Gear
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...
''.
Reception
Much like the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' was met with positive reviews from critics, ''The Twin Snakes'' received an 85.58% and 85/100 from
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
and
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, respectively. ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' gave ''The Twin Snakes'' 8.5 out of 10, praising its superior graphics and likening the presentation to epic movies. ''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' gave it an 8.2 out of 10 or "Great" on their scale,
''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' rated ''The Twin Snakes'' as 8 out of 10 and Gaming Age gave it an "A−" rating. ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' gave ''The Twin Snakes'' a 9.25 out of 10, citing its improved gameplay and graphics, and also its faithful retelling of the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' story. The publication later placed ''The Twin Snakes'' at #11 on their list of "Top 25 GameCube Games" in 2009. ''
Official Nintendo Magazine'' placed the game 80th on their list of the Top 100 Best Nintendo games.
Despite receiving generally favorable reviews, ''The Twin Snakes'' has also drawn criticism. According to ''
GamePro
Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
'', the game has a "flagging framerate and bouts of slowdown that occur when too much activity crowds the screen."
The use of new gameplay elements from ''Sons of Liberty'' was seen as unnecessary, as ''GamePro'' thought that the level design was virtually unchanged from ''Metal Gear Solid'',
which "spoils the challenge... and completely ruins one boss battle (Revolver Ocelot)."
References
Notes
Footnotes
External links
*
{{Authority control
2004 video games
Action-adventure games
GameCube games
Konami games
GameCube-only games
Metal Gear video games
Silicon Knights games
Single-player video games
Stealth video games
Video game remakes
Video games designed by Hideo Kojima
Video games developed in Canada
Video games set in Alaska
Video games set in the United States
Video games set on fictional islands
Video games produced by Hideo Kojima
Video games scored by Norihiko Hibino
Video games scored by Steve Henifin
Video games scored by Toshiyuki Kakufa
Video games scored by Shuichi Kobori
Video games scored by Waichiro Ozaki
Video games developed in Japan